Stating that the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has cheated people of Jammu region by defining the domicile laws not favorable to them, J&K Apni Party has accused the Union Government of reducing status of people to “fourth class who voted them to power in assembly as well as parliamentary polls”

“The honour of people of Jammu has been compromised and downgraded by the leaders who claimed to be the champion for the cause their case in the region. BJP climbed political ladder rising voice against discrimination with the people of this region. They  ended up doing same disparity with the people who gave them power to rule the country,” said J&K Apni Party leaders, Manjit Singh and Vikram Malhotra in a statement issued here.

Both the leaders pledged that they will fight for the cause of Jammuities and invited all the political parties’ leaders including BJP to come on one platform to fight for the cause to restore lost honour.

 “Right of our youth on Government jobs has been snatched and given to outsiders despite knowing how our youth get education in troubling times of militancy and frequent border disturbance in Jammu and Kashmir,” they said.

They alleged that the people of Jammu were hurt when they were “reserved for class fourth jobs”. “Dogras have 200 years old proud history. We will not compromise out the rights of the people,” they said.

Iltija Mufti, daughter of jailed former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, said: “J&K’s new domicile law is part of a diabolical demographic project that began on 5th August with Article 370 abrogation. Imposing it in times of a global pandemic reveals a callous & paranoid mindset wilfully violating consent to ensure subjugation.”

She further wrote: “They are in a maddening rush to appropriate our land & resources. Wonder why they don’t show the same sense of urgency to save lives of thousands of Kashmiris jailed in & outside J&K?”

Iltija tweeted from the Twitter handle of her mother Mehbooba Mufti.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who was recently released after eight months of detention, also tweeted took to Twitter to express his concerns.

He wrote: “Talk about suspect timing. At a time when all our efforts & attention should be focused on the #COVID outbreak, the government slips in a new domicile law for J&K. Insult is heaped on injury when we see the law offers none of the protections that had been promised.”

The order in this regard was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Jammu and Kashmir.  The domiciles include children of those central government officials, All India services officers, officials of public sector undertaking and autonomous body of the central government, public sector banks, officials of statutory bodies, officials of central universities and recognized research institutes of the central government who have served in Jammu and Kashmir for a total period of ten years. The order has reserved fourth class jobs for residents of J&K.

Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party has also taken strong exception of it and described it as “casual attempt, cosmetic in nature, to hoodwink the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”